Home Again
by rhpsdeadzonefan
Summary: Tony Stark wakes up somewhere he's never been before. An Endgame fix-it one-shot originally posted on Reddit as a prompt fill: [EU] In an unexpected plot twist, the Soul Stone was generous enough to bring life back to Tony Stark. It brings Tony back in the middle of his own funeral, with no memories after his return from the past in Avengers Endgame.


It wasn't so much a funeral as it was a celebration of life - at least that's what Pepper Potts-Stark had tried to tell herself. They were all grieving, but she knew that life going forward without her husband was going to be hard enough as it was. Their daughter was so young and Pepper knew she still didn't fully grasp the gravity of the situation yet. She couldn't put her through seeing Tony's half charred body. It was too much for Pepper to even take, so she wanted to spare Morgan that same pain.

Instead of choosing a venue like a church (which certainly wasn't Tony's style) or, god-forbid, a funeral home, Pepper chose the place where they'd decided to settle down together - their cozy cabin by the lake. Arguably, their best years had been spent there and it felt like a natural place to say goodbye to the love of her life and for his final resting place.

The casket was ready to be lowered into the ground in the woods behind their cabin. The land was all theirs for their own privacy and Pepper had chosen a lovely spot that she was certain Tony would have appreciated. Everyone had arrived and Pepper braced herself for the service ahead.

The first thing he saw was darkness. The gasp of air he sucked in made his chest burn. He looked around in a panic - was he blind? Had something happened? For a moment, he couldn't remember _anything_, not even who he was. Who _was_ he? His mind felt so foggy and his limbs heavy. Hazy memories filled his mind. Was his name Howard? No, no, that wasn't right. He knew that wasn't right. It didn't matter now.

Panic gripped him as the memories flooded in faster and faster. It was so dark. Was he in a cave? Oh god, he couldn't still be in that cave. He lifted his hands, trying to feel for someone or something to latch onto. His hands hit a fabric lining - silk, maybe? - and he touched the smooth fabric above him, finding it surrounded him entirely.

Reality hit him as the fog in his mind lifted. It was a casket. It had to be a casket, but how was he still alive? He took a few deep breaths, trying not to go into a full blown panic attack. He knew who he was now. He was Tony Stark and he'd been in worse scrapes than this. It was only a casket. The vastness of space had felt more claustrophobic than this. Here he had something tangible to work with. Even if he was six feet under, it was only six feet, not lightyears. He could _do this_.

Tony took in a few deep breaths. He didn't understand why he was in a coffin, but he knew he couldn't afford to waste the precious air he had left inside on hyperventilating. He also wasn't going to waste his breath on screaming for help either. For all he knew, he was already buried and no one would hear him anyway. He needed a plan. He felt around the casket to look for the hinges or any sort of hardware he'd be able to manipulate. His fingers brushed up against the metal and he finally felt something he could use and it felt like the inside of the lock.

Next, he felt around his jacket pockets. Something inside was poking at him and he soon realized what it was - a small screwdriver. It was undoubtedly put there by DUM-E's request via FRIDAY relaying it. He knew his bots well. It was the same little screwdriver he always used to fix DUM-E's arm. At least that indicated that an enemy hadn't taken him to bury him alive. He had a tool and he knew where the lock was. He had a chance. He took another steadying breath and got to work.

Pepper felt numb as she lowered the arc reactor wreath onto the water. Surrounded by friends and family, she knew she should have felt more comforted by Tony's final message, but that empty, hollow pain in her chest wouldn't subside. She was holding it together for Morgan, but she missed her husband and she didn't know how long she could keep it up.

Tony was walking through the back edge of the property. He didn't know how long he'd spent working on the locking mechanism of the casket, but he'd been so relieved to find he hadn't been lowered into the ground yet. He walked past their little garden and their alpaca, Gerald, who was too immersed in his usual task of eating all of Pepper's goji berries from the garden to notice him passing by.

Tony finally caught sight of everyone standing at the edge of the dock in the front yard and he paused. They were all there. _Everyone_ was there... even those they'd lost. None of this was making sense. That familiar unease set in again, but he walked closer anyway. He had to know what had happened.

He watched as Pepper knelt down beside their daughter, gently brushing the hair from her face and then pulling her close.

"Pep?" He called out to her from behind the crowd.

Pepper froze where she was. She could have sworn she heard his voice. It wasn't until the others parted that she saw him standing there.

Carol was the first to take a fighting stance, stepping down into the yard from her place on the stone steps of the cabin. "Who are you?" She demanded to know. While she knew the Skrulls to be a friendly race of shapeshifters, she was also aware that they weren't the only ones in this universe or any other that had the ability.

"Tony?" Pepper breathed, standing up and looking towards him. It couldn't be... could it?

"Daddy!" Morgan called out and Pepper had to hurry to catch her before she could run over to him. She wasn't sure it was safe. What if it was a trick? It had to be some sort of illusion. He was gone. She'd watched him die. She couldn't risk losing Morgan too.

Everyone was staring at him with varying degrees of concern and trepidation. "Does anyone want to tell me what's going on?" He finally asked.

"You don't remember? What's the last thing you remember?" Steve chimed in, stepping forward. His jaw looked tense, like he was ready for a fight, but Tony could see he had little fight left in him.

"We went back to the past," He said, giving a glance over to Steve. "We stole some Pym particles and the Tesseract after things went wrong in New York. I met my dad," He admitted and Steve gave a nod, confirming that much.

"And that's the last thing you remember?" Steve questioned again.

Tony rolled his eyes at him. "No, I'm just playing stupid for shits and giggles," He snapped at him. "Thought it looked a little somber here. Just trying to break the tension after breaking out of my own coffin," He said, pulling out the screwdriver and tossing it down by Cap's feet. Steve looked down at the screwdriver and picked it up. He'd been there when Pepper had put in the trinkets in the casket and he'd seen her put that in his jacket pocket. Maybe it was true.

"We won," Peter piped up, walking over towards Tony. "Mr. Stark, we won. You won," He told him.

"Kid?" He asked. Tony was overcome at seeing Peter standing there alive and well. "Kid, you're okay?" He asked and Peter stepped closer and hugged him. Tony felt tears clouding his eyes. They'd won. Somehow they'd gotten everyone back without compromising everything they'd gained.

Pepper saw Steve holding the small tool and realized what it was. When she saw how Tony was reacting to seeing Peter, she knew it had to be him. She went over, holding Morgan's hand as the pair approached him. "Tony?" She asked softly.

Peter pulled back and stepped away, letting Tony's family their chance at reuniting with him.

"Hey Pep," He said softly and Pepper's breath caught in her chest. Those had been the last words he'd spoken so softly before he'd died. Now he was standing before her once again. She stepped closer, daring to reach out to gently touch his face. The burns seemed to have somehow healed, his skin unblemished from the battle just a few days previous that had left him charred on one side.

Tony felt something clinging to his leg and both he and Pepper looked down to see Morgan hugging him.

"Hey little miss," He said to her. He leaned down and scooped her up in his arms. The little girl leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Mommy said you wasn't coming back," She told him quietly. "Are you back now?"

"Yeah. I'm back," He assured her, holding her close. "I'm back," He promised, locking eyes with Pepper.

Pepper hugged him on the opposite side he was holding Morgan, finally allowing herself to break down leaning against him, but this time he was still breathing.

"Shh... It's okay, Pep. It's okay," He soothed. He was still confused as to what had happened or how he was there, but he wasn't going to question it for the moment. His family needed him and they had won. That was all that mattered for now.


End file.
